Today I start a journey. I hope you will come along. Mine started on Neff Road.

Friday, September 9, 2011

A Season of Preparation

The cow stable and sheep pens were cleaned before the earth decided to wear her winter cloak. The chicken house had fall cleaning, too. Fresh bedding was laid as a new season approached. Dad stored equipment and closed the barn doors in the hay mow. Winter wheat lay waiting beneath the rich soil as the other fields rested after their crops were stored. Tobacco hung in the shed slowly curing. Fall had come to the farm.

Dad and I often walked to Grandad's woods in the fall. Just as he had shown me the spring time buds, he wanted to show me the signs of fall. Leaves fell silently, crunching beneath our feet. Squirrels and chipmunks scamper after nuts. Birds search for fallen seeds.

The cows start to get a bit shaggier. The sheep wear new winter coats. The calves and lambs have grown no longer needing their mothers' care. A new season comes, and nature knows. Insects lie dormant waiting for spring time awakening. A season of preparation for the season of silence.

Crispness in the air trumpets that frost is on the way. Fall came to the farm. A woman in Oregon remembers.